From 3D-printed limbs to titanium legs and hands, 3D printing is revolutionizing the prosthetic industry. The latest news is from the Netherlands. A patient in the Rijnland Hospital in Leiderdorp will have shoulder replacement surgery next week, in which all or part of the glenohumeral joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant made using a 3D printer. It is the first time that such an operation is performed in the Netherlands.
(…weiter auf 3ders.org)

3D Printing has been being used increasingly more in the medical field. Whether it is the use of 3D bioprinting, printing of prosthetics, or the 3D printing of models that can be used to study different parts of the body, the technology is helping doctors and surgeons make some big strides.
(…weiter auf 3dprint.com)

A new generation of miniature biological robots is flexing its muscle.

Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign demonstrated a class of walking “bio-bots” powered by muscle cells and controlled with electrical pulses, giving researchers unprecedented command over their function. The group published its work in the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

“Biological actuation driven by cells is a fundamental need for any kind of biological machine you want to build,” said study leader Rashid Bashir, Abel Bliss Professor and head of bioengineering at the U. of I. “We’re trying to integrate these principles of engineering with biology in a way that can be used to design and develop biological machines and systems for environmental and medical applications. Biology is tremendously powerful, and if we can somehow learn to harness its advantages for useful applications, it could bring about a lot of great things.”
(…weiter auf news.illinois.edu)

3D printed models and virtual surgical planning technologies give surgeons a powerful new tool explore and repair the damage during the most challenging surgeries. Now the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched the NIH 3D Print Exchange, a public website that enables users to share, download and edit 3D print files which can be used to print custom laboratory equipment and models of bacteria and human anatomy.
(…weiter auf 3ders.org)

The future is here as veterinarians explore the clinical applications of 3-D printers.

The technology of 3-D printing, also called additive manufacturing, works like this: On the basis of instructions from computer-assisted design programs, layer after layer of material is laid down in specific shapes. 3-D printing can create a solid object of virtually any shape and can use an assortment of starting materials, including plastic, metal, ceramic, and even living cells. 3-D printing is different from traditional manufacturing techniques, which rely on the removal of material by cutting or drilling, for example.
(…weiter auf avma.org)